Peters



@termi faire, @anni @fnf IMPROVED SPRING-BUCKLE.

titi tlgthnle tristan 'tu in time ettet ndert mit nuttig gaat tf itssana.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that-I, J. FERGUSON MonsnLL, of Stamford, in the county ofFareld, and State of ,Connec tient, have invented -a new and improvedSpring-Buckle; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of referencemarked thereon.

The nature of my `invention consists in a buckle, having a springattached directly, or otherwise secured, to a bed-plate, andA providedwith a ridge or jaw, or teeth or the equivalent thereof, so that a strapinserted under such ridgeshall be firmly held thereby against'any straintending to pull the strap backward'ai'ter such insertion. It alsoconsists in the combination with 'such spring, bed-plate, andjaw, of aloop, which serves as a pulley in tightening the strap, as well as aguide for the latter. In the accompanying drawings--a Figure 1 is a planor top view, and i Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section, taken onthe plane of the line :e x, iig. 1.

Similar letters refer to like parts in both iigures.

A designates a bed-plate or strip of metal, or other suitable material,which may have its upper face'iat, as in the present instance, or befurnished with a surface moreor less corrugated.' To the upper face ofthis bed-plate there is secured a loop or guide, B, for the strap F; orthe said loop or guide B may be part of the same piece of metal as thebed-plate A.- On the said loop or guide B the spring C is mounted, beingriveted thereto, or otherwise securely fastened. The said spring C, inthe present instance, consists of two iiat strips of metal, secured attheir rear ends to theloop B; biitfthe said spring may be composed of asingle strip, of any suitable form. This spring carries upon its undersurface a ridge or jaw, D, the front of which has a straight edge, held,when the spring is in its normal condition, in a position close to ornearly against'the bedv plate A. Teeth or points may be substituted forthe said ridge or'jaw D; or the said ridge or jaw D may be serrated orprovided with teeth. E designates/another loop or guide for the strap F,which guide may be attached to or form part of the bed-plate A, andwhich is placed in front of the said ridge or jaw D. F designates aleather strap, for the purpose of illustrating the operation of thebuckle, such strap being passed through.

the `buckle and the said loop E, its position when held b'y the bucklebeing clearly shown ing. 1.

' It may be desirable in some cases to dispense with that part of thebed-plate A directly under the ridge or jaw D, in whichfcase the saidridge or jaw would press the strap against the article (say a trunk) towhich the buckle is attachediand the bed-plate A would become simply aframe to support the spring and attach the same tothe trunk. In suchcase the loop'E, it' used, could be secured to the trunk in front of thespring.

The operation of my invention is as follows: A strap, F, having beenpassed through the loop B, and under thejaw D, receives at once thepressure of the spring C through the said jaw D. The strap is thusfirmly held between the jaw D and the upper4 surface of the bed-plate A,againstslipping, by any strain tending to pull th` strap back out of thebuckle. The strap can be passed under the loop E, and the said loop Ewill serve to guide and hold-down the strap, and it -can be used as apulley, so to speak, around which the strap can be pulled for thepurpose of tightening the,same. If necessary to increase the friction ofthe edge of the jaw orridge upon the strap, so as to hold more firmly,this can be elcct'ed by cuttingslight gashes upon the surface-of thestrap, as is'show'n in the present instance, or by using a strap with acorrugated surface; and such cutting of light gashes upon the surface donot injure or weaken a strap so much as does the punching out holesthrough a strap, which is requisite in the use of the ordinary buckle.To detach the strap 4`roin the buckle, the spring C must be raised farenough toallow the strap to be drawn out from under the jaw D; and'Iwill here remark, that any suitable attachment to the spring which canbe taken hold of, for readily raising said spring, may be employed.

The advantages which' can be obtained by the use of my invention arevarious. I dispense with tongues,

such as are used in ordinary buckles, and stumps, used in sometrace-fastenings, where it is necessary tol punch holes in the strap forthe reception of such tongues and stumps, and thus limit the points atwhich the strap can be held by such buckles to the places where holesare punched in the strap. But it may-bc and usually is desirable thatthe buckle should be capable ofholding the strap, not merely at certainintervals where holes may be punched, but at any place to which it isvtightly drawn, which is the ease with my invention. Also when it isnecessary, :ts with buckles on trunks, to frequently require the strapto hold tightly at one particular place in it, the strap being stretchedby use, :L new place slightly in rem' ofthe other place on the strapmust be used to hold with the sume tension. But with the ordinarybuckle, two holes cannot be punched in the strap close together, as onewould be likely to tear into the other, and the strap would, in anycase, be greatly weakened. When, also, with an ordinary buckle, a. straphas been drawn very tightly and the tongue inserted, it is evident that,to unstrap, the strap must rst be drawn just as tight as before, so thatthe tongue be cleared frou1its insertion before the tongue can beraised; this is frequently troublesome und diiiicult, und is notnecessary with my invention, for, by raising the spring, the strap isreleased. The pulley or loop E serves an efficient oil'ice for thetightening of the strap, as is evident; but should the loop E be tornaway or destroyed, the buckle will' still hold the strap in itsposition.

` What I claim as my invention, und desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

1. The combination of the bed-plate-A und spring C, carrying a ridge orjaw, D, substantially as and for the purpose herein specified.

2- The combination of a. loop, E, with-the bed-plate A `and spring C D,substantially as :1nd for the purpos: herein specified.

J. FERGUSON MORSELL.

Witnesses:

` MKM. LIVINGSTON,

T. B. BEECHER.

